Sunday, September 5, 2010

Last game of the season

Kalamazoo Kings (28-67) at Lake Erie Crushers (49-46)
Joe DiPietro (6-10, 6.20) vs Matt Smith (9-7, 3.95)


Kings
Joe Dan Poulter 2b
Brendan Murphy DH
JJ Sferra LF
Jeff Helps SS
Eric Suttle CF
Lee Rubin C
Bryan Marquez 3b
Tyler Herron 1b
Kris Miller RF

Crushers
Dom Duggan CF
Wayne Bond RF
Andrew Davis SS
Lee Huggins 3b
Matt Sutton DH
Raphael Turner LF
Jodam Rivera 2b
Julio Rivera C
Casey McGrew 1b

Pregame Notes:
- The Crushers secured a winning season with a 5-3 over the Kings last night.
- Josh Roberts became the second Crusher to win 10 games in season last night. Paul Fagan won 14 last season. Matt Smith is going for his 10th tonight.
- The Crushers entered the game with a .980 fielding percentage as a team. The league record is .979.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

September 4 2010: Kings at Crushers

Kalamazoo (28-66) at Lake Erie (48-46)
Jimmy Stanley (1-4) vs. Josh Roberts (9-5)

Kings (28-66)
JJ Sferra LF
Eric Suttle CF
Kris Miller RF
Matt Greener 3b
Lee Rubin DH
Brendan Murphy 1b
Bryan Marquez SS
Jeff Helps 2b
Pat Hanley C

Crushers (48-46)
Dom Duggan CF
Wayne Bond LF
Andrew Davis SS
Lee Huggins 3b
Joel Huggins 3b
Matt Sutton DH
Jodam Rivera 2b
Arden McWilliams RF
Casey McGrew 1b


Pregame Notes
- Crushers have set a Frontier League record for double plays with 110. Old record was 103 set in 2005 by Evansville.
- Crushers fielding percentage is .980, the league record is .979 set in 2006 and 2008 by Traverse City.
- Crushers won their sixth in a row with a 1-0 win over the Kings last night. It assured no worse than a .500 finish.
- Last night's crowd of 4,517 was the 17th crowd of over 3,500 this season. Last season there was only 13.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Frontier League Post season Award winners

The Crushers had two winners today as the Frontier League named its post-season awards while the season is still going on.

Ryan Gates was named Executive of the Year and Drew Saylor won the Fran Riordan Citizenship Award.

Gates has the Lake Erie Crushers in position to surpass the club’s 2009 attendance this weekend. In their second season of existence, Lake Erie has seen increases in both revenue and attendance at All Pro Freight Stadium, and will host the 2011 All-Star Game.

Saylor was honored for his work in northeast Ohio as the Citizenship Award winner. Drew, who also serves as a volunteer coach for Cleveland State University, is in his second season with the Crushers and fifth season overall in professional baseball.

Catcher Charlie Lisk of the Gateway Grizzlies, starting pitcher Joe Augustine of the Southern Illinois Miners, starting pitcher Dustin Williams of the Windy City ThunderBolts, and field manager Gera Alvarez of the Oakland County Cruisers headline the Frontier League’s 2010 Post-Season All-Star Team and award winners. The Southern Illinois Miners repeated as Organization of the Year.

Charlie Lisk was voted the Morgan Burkhart Award winner as Most Valuable Player along with being voted the catcher on the All-Star Team for the third consecutive season. Charlie recently set the Frontier League’s career home run record and is currently leading the League with 87 RBI while ranking second with 21 home runs and third with his .315 batting average.

Joe Augustine won the Brian Tollberg Award as Pitcher of the Year. Joe leads the Frontier League with his 1.97 ERA and 121 strikeouts while being tied for third with ten wins on the season and has helped pitch Southern Illinois to their first division title and the top seed in the Frontier League playoffs.

Dustin Williams was voted the Jason Simontacchi Award winner as Rookie of the Year. Williams, who made his professional debut in June out of Oklahoma City University, has a 7-3 record and 2.41 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 100.2 innings for the East Division leading ThunderBolts.

Gera Alvarez won the Rogers Hanners Award as Manager of the Year. Gera has led the Oakland County Cruisers to a club-record 52 wins, a ten game improvement over 2009, and has the Cruisers tied for the East Division Wild Card spot despite their playing the bulk of the 2010 season as a road team.

The Southern Illinois Miners attracted over 200,000 fans for the fourth consecutive season, finishing the regular season with an average attendance of 4,253 fans. The Miners were also host of the 2010 Frontier League All-Star Game.


The complete Post-Season All-Star Team and award winners are:

1B - Joash Brodin - Oakland County Cruisers
2B - Gilberto Mejia - Windy City ThunderBolts
3B - Daniel Cox - Normal CornBelters
SS - Stephen Shults - Florence Freedom
C - Charlie Lisk - Gateway Grizzlies
DH - Chase Burch - Traverse City Beach Bums
OF - Stephen Holdren - River City Rascals
OF - Jereme Milons - Southern Illinois Miners
OF - Jason Patton - Gateway Grizzlies
SP - Joe Augustine - Southern Illinois Miners
RP - P.J. Zocchi - Oakland County Cruisers

Morgan Burkhart Award (MVP) - Charlie Lisk, Gateway Grizzlies
Brian Tollberg Award (Pitcher of the Year) - Joe Augustine, Southern Illinois Miners
Jason Simontacchi Award (Rookie of the Year) - Dustin Williams, Windy City ThunderBolts
Roger Hanners Award (Manager of the Year) - Gera Alvarez, Oakland County Cruisers
Fran Riordan Award (Citizenship) - Drew Saylor, Lake Erie Crushers

Coach of the Year - Randy Martz, Gateway Grizzlies
Trainer of the Year - Geof Manzo, Gateway Grizzlies
Groundskeeper of the Year - Ben Young, Gateway Grizzlies
Newspaper of the Year - The Daily Republican (Marion, Illinois)
Writer of the Year - Steve Millar, SouthtownStar (Tinley Park, Illinois)
Broadcaster of the Year - Joe Pott, Gateway Grizzlies
Clubbie of the Year - Denny Dame, Traverse City Beach Bums
Executive of the Year - Ryan Gates, Lake Erie Crushers
Organization of the Year - Southern Illinois Miners
Umpire of the Year - Tony Maners

Voting for awards was done by general managers, coaching staffs, and local media in all 12 Frontier League markets.